1913] Woodward,— Some Connecticut Plants 95 
ridges and sometimes forms extensive colonies. As a rule it is smaller 
here and does not fruit so freely, but I have seen beds on the gravel 
that were loaded with fruit. Both on the hills and in the valley 
search was made for specimens with slender beaked perigynia. While 
there is naturally considerable variation in individual plants, I do 
“not feel sure that any of the material collected can properly be classed 
as a good example of the species, and I conclude that Carex umbellata 
Schkuhr is at least rare in the region examined, although the variety 
brevirostris Boott is so common. 
In this connection certain field characters seem worthy of mention. 
Even when quite ripe and ready to fall, the perigynia have a broadly 
truncate base, and rarely give any indication of the strongly stipitate 
base so characteristic of herbarium specimens, and which develops 
also in the Franklin specimens after drying in the press. Except for a 
narrow green midrib the scales are essentially white, and this color 
makes the fruiting spikes contrast prettily with the green of the leaves. 
There is also a marked tendency toward white in the perigynia, and 
at some stations the entire body up to the beak is white. 
Carex umbellata Schkuhr var. brevirostris Boott occurs on the trap 
ridges about New Haven, and is here associated with the species. 
Mr. A. E. Blewitt has reported it from the trap ridges of Cheshire, 
fifteen miles north of New Haven, and it occurs in the towns west of 
New Haven, the indications being that it is more generally distributed 
through Southern Connecticut than has been supposed to be the case. 
A couple of winters ago I noticed in my herbarium some specimens 
of Thalictrum from Franklin, which had an odd look. Plants collected 
the next spring and sent to the Gray Herbarium proved to be Thalic- 
trum dasycarpum Fisch. & Lall. This is a considerable extension of 
range, Gray's Manual giving New Jersey as the northern limit of the 
species in the East. 
Festuca rubra (L.) var. subvillosa Mert. & Koch is an occasional grass 
on dry hillsides in Franklin. In 1912, in consequence of “labor 
troubles” a considerable portion of the lawn remained uncut till 
midsummer, when I learned to my surprise that the above variety is 
practically the only grass on this section of the lawn. It is an ideal 
lawn grass. It forms a soft dense carpet of green, which has not 
faded perceptibly during the prolonged drouths of recent summers. 
Bidens laevis (L.) BSP., hitherto unreported from eastern Connecti- 
cut, occurs in Franklin. Its golden yellow flowers are conspicuous, 
